Religious freedom – An illusion in Egypt
A report entitled “Discrimination at work in the Middle East and North Africa” by the International Labor Organization (ILO) found that Copts in Egypt are continually targeted by discrimination, and are also denied access to education and equal opportunities in recruitment and promotion. The report further highlighted that very few are appointed to key positions in the Government, police academies, military schools, and universities. In the 26 Egyptian provinces there is not a single Coptic governor. Only 10 Copts head the boards of the 3,600 public sector companies. Of 127 embassies, only one Copt serves as an ambassador. In 12 universities, there is not a single Coptic president.
Moreover, Coptic Christians continue to suffer human rights abuses. In lieu of the escalating violence and oppression against the Copts, the American Coptic Union is asking US Congress to intervene on behalf of those victimised, and impose economic sanctions against the Mubarak regime. While US foreign policy seeks to help the Egyptian government, which is represented by the National Democratic Party (NDP) and Muslim Brotherhood, there is little-to-no help for the persecuted Christians in Egypt.
The United States’ State Department (USSD) annual International Religious Freedom Report on Egypt published in September 2007 stated that religious liberty has deteriorated further. The report also highlighted the serious issues of the death penalty as punishment for apostasy, custody battles for non-Muslim children, and registration of new religion as there is an increasing number of Muslim to Christian converts in Egypt.
Coptic organisations in the United States along with activists from Egypt, the Middle East and Europe conducted a peaceful demonstration in front of the White House on Wednesday 16 July 2008. The main purpose of the rally was to inform the world of recent incidents of oppression, discrimination, and marginalisation inflicted on Coptic Christians by the Egyptian Government and Muslim extremists.
According to a study made by the Ibn Khaldoun Research Center for Development Studies in Cairo, over 240 major attacks against the Copts took place from 1972-2003. Magdy Khalil, a writer and researcher, estimates that as a result of these attacks more than 4,000 Copts were killed or seriously injured.
Earlier this year, monks from the ancient Deir Abu Fana Coptic monastery were kidnapped and tortured. The extremists also robbed a Christian-owned jewellery store killing four Copts. Such recent events have elevated violence and tensions to a new level throughout Egypt. The rash of violence was so bad that one prominent Egyptian writer worried it had become “open season” on the nation’s Christians.
In a follow-up report issued in July 2008, the National Council for Human Rights described the atmosphere in Egypt as an “overcharged sectarian environment” and chided the State saying it “turns a blind eye to such incidents” and was “only content to send security forces after clashes catches fire.”
For many Copts, the state shares the responsibility for discrimination and marginalisation. According to Nadia Farag, who writes on Coptic issues, it is the state which differentiates on the basis of religion, and this will eventually create an ethnic minority. “The exclusion of Copts from any kind of formal political process is the sure road to ethnicity”, claims Farag. Bishop Thomas from the province of Aissut argues, “If you are made to feel different, then you start to look for another identity. This ‘made to feel different’ is based on daily discrimination.”
Sources: Karim al-Gawhary, Copts in the Egyptian Fabric, Middle East Report, Minorities in the Middle East: Power and the Middle East: Power and the Politics of Difference, 1996, 200, 21-22; Michael Slackman, As Tensions Rise for Egypt’s Christians: Officials Call Clashes Secular, The New York Times, 02/08/2008; International Labor Organization, Discrimination at Work in the Middle East and North Africa, via web: http://www.ilo.org/dyn/declaris/DECLARATIONWEB.DOWNLOAD_BLOB?Var_DocumentID=6819